Weekly PPC Update – Dreaming of Summer Edition

The end of the school year is drawing near…even if you don’t have kids, I think the end of May brings about a certain nostalgia as you drive by your local high school and think fondly of the days when you were sitting in a classroom, staring out the window for what seemed like an eternity as the clock ticked ever-so-slowly towards the magic number…dreaming of the ways you’ll spend the long summer days that will soon be yours.

These days, if you’re lucky enough to have time to daydream, you’re probably wondering if you should run a test on your ad campaigns to see if the increase in school-aged kids using Google in a couple of weeks warrants any changes to your keywords or targeting.

Let’s see what the PPC blog-o-sphere has been daydreaming about this week.

Where is Google’s mind wandering?

The rise in mobile search has led to massive click-to-call popularity, but it’s only getting better. Google announced some new enhancements to this feature with call conversion settings, enabling you to align calls with business objectives and refine your performance monitoring incorporating better call data. Check it out here.

In-market audiences was introduced last year, but this feature in the Google Display Network is proving to be highly effective for businesses like Wayfair.com and Toll Brothers to connect with target consumers who are at the precise stage in the buying cycle to convert. Read more.

If you’re advertising in YouTube, your CTA overlays are getting a makeover that will increase real estate to video content. And, you’ll also see CTA clicks in your AdWords for video metrics. Get the details.

Bing goes Big Data, enhances reporting…

Google wasn’t the only one unrolling some enhancements to reporting this week. Bing reveals a new Geographical Location Report that shows which targeting method served your ad. Definitely a valuable bit of data to have. Read more about Bing’s latest reporting enhancement.

Lars Hirsch shares some details about the Big Data insights Bing aims to bring to advertisers in this blog post.

Bing is an excellent advertising platform for reaching mobile users, too, and this blog post reveals some interesting details about not only why mobile ads are increasingly critical, but why Bing is a worthy network for reaching the mobile audience. Check it out.

And in the rest of the PPC realm…

Sure, you might be able to handle your ad campaigns in-house, but are you getting the biggest bang for your buck? PPC Hero released a white paper discussing when you should consider augmenting your internal team with an agency. Get it here.

We all want our ads to get premier placement, but does rank really matter? Search Engine Watch has the answer. Read more.

We leave you this week with the news you’ve been expecting for the past several years: Google is officially taking over the universe. Nah, not just yet…but it might be invading your car very soon. This article in The New York Times covers Google’s S.E.C. filing, which apparently reveals that the search giant would like to place ads…in your thermostat. And in your car. Using dynamic targeting, this would enable Google to serve up ads for a tropical getaway in sub-zero weather, for instance, or for a local air conditioner retailer on scorching summer days. If the idea doesn’t make you feel all Big Brother-spied-on, you can read the rest here.

And with that, we’ll leave you to your own Friday daydreams…may you dream of a happy world in which Google owns anything and everything and serves you up some ads in your contact lenses. (Hey wait, that’s kinda what Google Glass does…)